The unholy holy....a phrase given to me by someone whom I respect very much...and it's rolled around in my head this weekend and today again.

My current home city has been that for almost 20 years, this week in fact we complete 20 years here. I've grown nostalgic on another post, so I won't do that here, but instead I will wax eloquent about it.

It's one of the most beautiful cities in the world, so much so song, poetry, dance and more have been created about it. Conservative and elegant, yet cutting edge and growing, it still never ceases to amaze me.

But compared to where I grew up, it's a different world.

I've been catcalled and chased after asking if I want boyfriends. Recently in a street in one of the nearby towns, I was presumed to be a prostitute, in the middle of the day, the men in the car were insistent that I join them. Once, a few years back ( long time actually) I wore a beach dress into the supermarket and even though my beach dress was modest on the beach, it was considered slutty for the supermarket. I didn't know.

The rules are all topsy turvy and sometimes they change, but sometimes they don't. Bundle up like its -10 below 0 in the winter, even if its not. But if you are a girl going to a club, wear the tiniest skirt possible, without tights, and you are fine.

I still get stared at for long blondish hair and blue eyes. Even sometimes little kids stop and parents explain sheepishly that the kids have never seen eyes like mine.

I dress too American for here sometimes and too Spanish when I'm in the US. Wear lipstick and paint your eyes here and you are "guapa!" Do the same in the US and you might be considered that loud, red lipstick aunt who is over the top.

Halfway through our 20 years, I didn't realize how native I'd gone until I had complaints and even accusations in the US for being immoral and to put it bluntly "slutty". 

But it goes beyond dress. Lots of friendships here with men and women that are just that, friendships, and no one blinks. Yes, of course, there is hanky panky that happens, but it is still shocking. And frowned upon.

But in my conservative US world, as a married woman, I'm supposed to have lady friends. And that's it. And the same goes for my man, dude friends, and don't think about women anymore.

And its still conservative, but its still the town of Garcia Lorca, so having gay men and women in my life is normal, like cafe con leche. Today, I saw that two of them got married and threw a magnificent party. 

So,how do I walk? How do I live? Believing what I do? Following who I do?

I dress the way I should where I should.

I have friends, from all cultures, languages, genders.

And when my friends get married, I am happy for them.

And when my friends die, or their loved ones do, I grieve with them.

I don't shame people. I don't tell them they have done or are doing things wrongly.

Sometimes at the tables, I bring the wine and we drink it together. Or, we bring the bread and we eat it together. Because the Kingdom of Heaven begins and ends at a table, and like Nadia states in her sermon this week,

"... Jesus left us with a way to glimpse the world where God’s kingdom reigns, where domination is done with and all lies have ceased. And he gave us this on the night he was betrayed when he gathered around a table with his faltering friends for a meal that tasted of freedom.

And that table is long. In fact, it stretches through time to fit all who have ever gathered for his kingdom meal. The Lord’s table has always extended to gather all who hunger ever since the night he instituted this meal of edible, drinkable Jesus forgiveness…this table has extended to include those I wish to accuse and those who wish to accuse me. This table crosses borders and razor wire and occupied land. It defies all protocols of empire. Here, at his table the deceiver’s claims to a merit-based, race-based, gender-based, income-based seating chart are eternally invalidated. All the vain things that charm us most are deemed meaningless to the one who was who is and who is to come. So I hope you bring all of who you are today. Because here is a foretaste of the kingdom where all dragons have been slain – all accusations have been silenced and all enemies have been loved."

Join me at this table as I unravel the unholy holy in this part of the world where I live. Oh, and that quote is from the link below. Check out Nadia and prepare to have your world rocked. Thanks Nadia for putting into words what I lacked today.

https://thecorners.substack.com/p/angels-dragons-and-that-spiritual